Video of the awards ceremony will be available on Military Spouse mag YouTube channel.

Nominated by her husband, Tech. Sgt. Edwinston Ward, Alicia's accomplishments include serving as the Key Spouse for the 113th Logistics Readiness Squadron, Relocation Assistance contractor, Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) Family Panel Representative for the National Guard and the co-founder of the Joint Base Andrews Business and Community Support Group and Spouse Forums. She is the first National Guard spouse to receive this prestigious award. With the reach of the Military Spouse of the Year ® organization behind her, Hinds Ward is planning to advocate for better spouse employment options and special needs resources.

Alicia Hinds Ward - 2013 AFI Military Spouse of the Year -1st National Guard spouse to win the award

"We want to create an opportunity for these winners to advocate and engage the military spouse community through Military Spouse's media channels: Military Spouse magazine, militaryspouse.com, and social media," said Kate Meeuf, Brand Director

“Each military spouse who competed in the 2013 Military Spouse of the Year (MSOY) competition is to be commended for their devoted support to the dedicated military men and women in uniform who serve our nation each and every day,” said Garry L. Parks, Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret), Chairman of Armed Forces Insurance, the MSOY Title Sponsor. “Today we appropriately paused to honor 'the' 2013 MSOY, Mrs. Alicia Hinds Ward. Concurrently, however, we applaud every military spouse, the unsung heroes who maintain the home-front during lengthy deployments, selflessly give back to their communities through volunteer work, and provide moral support for their loved ones serving both at home and in harm's way. Both individually and collectively, these spouses contribute so much to our nation's armed forces. On behalf of Armed Forces Insurance, we salute each of you!”

Prior to announcing the overall 2013 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year ® , the finalists from each branch of service were honored at the annual awards luncheon which was hosted at the Fort Myer Officers' Club by Mrs. Betty Welsh, spouse of General Mark Welsh, Air Force Chief of Staff and attended by military and civilian VIPs: The Awards were also streamed live for the first time via the magazine's website.

The 2013 Branch Winners are: â— 2013 Army Spouse of the Year - Tara Crooks â— 2013 Marine Corps Spouse of the Year - Karen Guenther â— 2013 Navy Spouse of the Year - Alisha Youch â— 2013 Air Force Spouse of the Year – Verenice Castillo â— 2013 Coast Guard Spouse of the Year - Shelley Kimball â— 2013 National Guard Spouse of the Year - Alicia Hinds Ward

These Branch Winners emerged from a pool of more than 900 nominees, advancing through three separate rounds of voting and a judges' panel review.

Initially the winner of the local level “Washington D.C. National Guard Spouse of the Year award ®, Hinds Ward was awarded the branch level “National Guard Spouse of the Year ® title before ultimately being chosen as the overall 2013 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year ®.

The mother of three sons, Hinds Ward is a graduate from Kaplan University with a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies and Alternative Dispute Resolution. She is also a member of the Golden Key Honour Society, Alpha Beta Kappa Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and is a founding member of the Kappa Lambda Paralegal Honor Society.

The Military Spouse of the Year® (MSOY) program was founded and is run by Military Spouse magazine. "We want to create an opportunity for these winners to advocate and engage the military spouse community through Military Spouse's media channels: Military Spouse magazine, militaryspouse.com, and social media," said Kate Meeuf, Brand Director of Military Spouse.

# # # About Military Spouse Military Spouse magazine and http://www.militaryspouse.com, published by Victory Media, is the leading national magazine and online destination for the nation's 1.1 million military spouses. You can follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/militaryspousemagazine and on Twitter @MilSpouseMag. Victory Media, a service disabled veteran owned small business, also publishes G.I. Jobs magazine, Vetrepreneur magazine, and has created the Buy Veteran movement powered by NaVOBA.

About Armed Forces Insurance AFI was founded in 1887 by military leaders with a single mission: to protect the property of those who protect our nation. The company provides premium quality, competitively-priced property and casualty insurance to military professionals throughout the United States and overseas. AFI understands that military members have unique circumstances and insurance needs, enabling the company to offer a level of personalized service that's unequaled in the industry. For more information, visit the website at http://www.afi.org or call 1-800-495-8234.

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Bill Keller is an Air Force male military spouse married to Major General Suzanne Vautrinot. Between Bill and his spouse, they have over 50 years of military life experience and have lived all over the world. We broke or cardinal rule of never divulging a spouse's rank because Bill has had unique opportunities to meet and communicate with many different types of military families that many of us may never have.

Guys (and gals), this man has real military marriage experience. Listen to some of his insight and learn what it takes to make a happy, healthy marriage in this crazy lifestyle.